Merchant Archive
Thread: Vendor Changes 2 Solutions For 2 Problems
Ok. I've read all these posts regarding the crap.... I mean cap. Here's my 2 or 3 cents.. as well as a solution or 2...
Monopolies - They don't exist.
- Everyone has the ability to gather every available resource.
- Everyone has the chance to craft the best item from those resources.
- Everyone has the ability to sell the item for the price they want.
- Everyone has the ability to buy the item from someone else.
In short, no one has control over any product or market. This is simply about jealously and/or envy. There are people who put in hard work to gather what they require to craft quality products. Then there are people who don't...but want a slice of the pie.
Oligopoly - This probably happens. Groups of producers always affect every market, particularly the producers who make quality products and have an exceptional marketing strategy. EVERYONE has the ability to participate in this group of producers. However, it does not come without a little work (see my bullets under Monopolies).
Pareto Law - This happens. All the money is in the hands of a few, just as in RL. I don't have a problem with that. If I work hard enough, I can be part of that group. I have all the tools I need, as do you and everyone else.
I really only see 2 areas where there are problems. "Unlimited" storage and 6 vendors for a former Master Merchant.
I've been a master merchant for 10 months now. I've dabbled in weapons, but mainly make money as a miner. I also make money reselling other people's items. I've found that some people do not charge enough for their items and I can resell them at a profit in other parts of the galaxy.
I did not realize that I would be able to keep my 6 venders if I were to drop all Merchant skills. I would probably have done this, had I known. This is definitely a problem. SOE should immediately delete the vendors that belong to people who are not supposed to have them. Wait. That's probably a bit drastic. Instead, I propose these things...
Solution #1 - Dropping Merchant Skills
The game checks to see how many vendors I have when I try to create another. If I have 6, it tells me and does not allow me to create another. This same check should be put into the dropping of professions. If I have 6 vendors and I attempt to drop Management IV - Additional Vendors (which would drop my Vendors skill mod to +5), I should be denied, until I delete one of my vendors. Then, only the Master Merchants will have 6 vendors. This type of logic could probably be applied to other professions?
I'm constantly running out of room. I do not use my vendors for storage. (I had a traumatic experience about a year ago with many items disappearing from my vendor and a CSR who showed no mercy). However, I can see this being a problem. In RL, a company does not have unlimited storage. The more they store, the more it costs them. The Merchant/Crafter should be able to store as much as they want, providing they have the money to pay for it.
Solution #2 - The Warehouse
Add a new structure for crafters and merchants. My house is a warehouse. I can store 150 items in it. I get charged 36 credits per hour for those 150 items. Apparently, my vendor is a warehouse as well. I also get charged a static rate for the number of items I store on it. The vendor could be the warehouse, however, I think a new structure should be added (I'm a master Architect). If there was one added, the warehouse structure would allow thousands of items. However, the maintenance would be based solely on the number of items stored. More items = higher maintenance rate. This means that the noob merchants/crafters could afford to have a warehouse just like the big guys. They would just have small warehouses with small amounts of items. The main difference being that it cost the big guy more money in operating costs than the little guy. Just like in RL.
I think the vendor cap could stay, if there was a warehouse structure. But only as long as I can browse my warehouse for items to add to my vendor.
Ok. I'm done. Thanks for listening.